The Irish Hockey Association (IHA; Irish: Cumann Haca na hÉireann) is the governing body for the game of (field) hockey throughout the island of Ireland. The IHA was formed in 2000 by the merger of the (men's) Irish Hockey Union (founded 1886) and the Irish Ladies Hockey Union (founded 1894). This followed a 1998 decision of the International Hockey Federation to affiliate only one association per nation.
The Association has eight affiliated Branches that govern the sport at regional level. The five women's hockey Branches are Leinster, Munster, Connacht, Ulster and South East, with three men's hockey Branches existing in the form of Leinster, Munster and Ulster. Plans exist to merge the men's and women's branches to mirror the National merger.
168 clubs and 280 schools are affiliated to the IHA through membership of the regional unions.
Famous quotes containing the words irish and/or association:
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“The spiritual kinship between Lincoln and Whitman was founded upon their Americanism, their essential Westernism. Whitman had grown up without much formal education; Lincoln had scarcely any education. One had become the notable poet of the day; one the orator of the Gettsyburg Address. It was inevitable that Whitman as a poet should turn with a feeling of kinship to Lincoln, and even without any association or contact feel that Lincoln was his.”
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